Saturday, December 26, 2015

Rains, rains … and more
…. Dec 2015 would remain etched in the memory of Chennaiites ~ for the
devastation that followed incessant rains. ~ a
few lives were lost, many lost all their belongings – for Insurers claims have
been pouring in and by estimates the loss in city alone is put at 4000 crores
[no confirmed source though !] – house property; industries, stocks, IT &
ITES; hotels and thousands of cars.

Kotturpuram (கோட்டுர்புரம்)is
a locality nearer Guindy Park / Adyar / RA puram. Ace carnatic musicians (Late)
Shri MS Subbulakshmi and {Late} Shri D.K. Pattammal have made the place proud. Like many other places, Kottur was once a
village – TNSC in its wisdom constructed flats in the river bed, since it was the
dead-end at that time. Puram means
exterior in Tamil and hence Kotturpuram.
This area was worst affected in 1977 and now too !

GVK EMRI (Emergency
Management and Research Institute) is
one good thing that happened in 2005. The
organization was incepted with the objective of delivering comprehensive,
speedy, reliable and quality Emergency Care Services. This has been done by
establishing an Emergency Response System that coordinates every emergency
through a single toll free number 108 which when called in an emergency ensures
prompt communication and activation of a response that includes, assessment of
the emergency, dispatch of the ambulances, along with a well trained Emergency
Medical Technician to render quality pre-hospital care and transport of the
patient to the appropriate health care facility. Today, 108 is synonymous with the
best-in-class emergency service.

GVK EMRI is
operating integrated “104 Health Advice Helpline Services” in partnership with
the Administration of the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and, Dadra &
Nagar Haveli and the state of Tamil Nadu. It is SYMA’s fortune that we came to be
associated with Mr B Prabhudoss, Head of Marketing and Hospital Relations,
EMRI.

In the recent
rains, Kottur too was badly affected. Many
good people were involved in relief and rescue.
Before NDRF and the defence forces were deployed, City
police and the firemen were working in tandem in rescuing the stranded public
from flooded localities. It was the fisherfolk of Nochikuppam, Mylapore and
others who helped in a big way rescuing people in boats. DCP of Mylapore Mr V Balakrishnan played a
stellar role in rescue.

For those who
underwent suffering, especially young students – the stress of the trauma is
unbearable. Many from Kottur were
affected ~ through Mr SR Ragunathan, Chief Photo editor, The Hindu, we came in
contact with the HM of Chennai High School, at New Street, Kottur. EMRI 104 Health Helpline conducted psychological
counselling for children assisting them to overcome stress induced by floods. Mr B
Prabudoss and Mr Elaya Raja conducted
the session. The concern exhibited and the efforts of the Head Mistress of the School and other Teachers in identifying and taking care of those students affected is commendable. Today’s The Hindu has this news on page 2 :

Helping them cope with trauma left by
floods

A group of students at the
Chennai High School in Kottur took a break from regular classes last Saturday,
to take part in interactive activities and games. A voluntary organisation took
initiative to give counselling session to students affected by the floods,
through GVK EMRI services.

B. Prabhudoss, Head of
Marketing and Hospital Relations, GVK EMRI, said while they had been offering
counselling for people experiencing post-traumatic stress after the floods,
this was the first initiative in a school. “Students from areas that were
severely affected had been experiencing lack of motivation and high stress
levels that we will seek to address in these sessions,” he said.

Psychologists from the 104
helpline held the session at the school and organised activities and games that
touched upon the symptoms of trauma and stress while speaking to students on
how to effectively overcome them. Simple breathing techniques and exercises
were taught. “Based on the sessions, the psychologists will identify children
who might need further one-on-one counselling and we will facilitate the
sessions. We are hoping to take this further to more schools in the city,” Mr.
Prabhudoss added.

S. Sampath Kumar of SYMA, the voluntary
organisation, said that they had decided to counsel students as part of a
rehabilitation process.